Immigration trends over the past five years have been quite severe given the international conflicts that are currently occurring. This, combined with the access to global travel, international employment, and living overseas long term, immigration trends have changed dramatically since previous years. One place in particular that has seen fascinating immigration trends in the last five years in Australia. Historically, Australia has been very open to immigration, which is why it has such a diverse and vibrant culture today. To learn more about recent immigration patterns and how they relate to Australia, read the discussion below:

Global Trend Over the Past Five Years

The statistics concerning global immigration trends are quite surprising given that in 2015, the highest level of global migrants ever recorded was 244 million. Germany has been impacted with a substantial amount of migrants due to the conflict in Syria. In fact, the conflict in Syria has led to many displaced individuals that are flooding European borders. This, combined with the existing issue of citizens from North Africa illegally immigrating to the European Union, there has been a call to tighten border procedures substantially. Europe aside, the political Venezuela has led at least 3 to 4 million Venezuelan citizens to immigrate to other MERCOSUR countries, European Union countries, and the United States. Major patterns of immigration such as these culturally impact many global citizens to include those in the home country were these immigrants left.

Immigration Trends to/from Australia in the Last Five Years

In the last five years, the net overseas migration has overtaken births in Australia. There is a concern about the aging population in Australia, which is why the Australian government has begun many programs to attract skilled workers to the country with the hope of expanding their workforce and creating a clear path to citizenship. There have also been options where students or startup entrepreneurs can make their stay more permanent in Australia, which is something that economists think will greatly benefit the expansion of the Australian economy. That said, there is a divide in the county related to many native Australians feeling that the country is far too full in terms of population and cultural diversity. Where the debate comes in is in terms of employment opportunities and environmental implications that are a strong focus in Australia.

What Are the General Things People Try to Achieve by Immigrating?

Immigration occurs for a wide variety of reasons. Historically, immigration stemmed from religious persecution, job relocation or the desire to entirely start over. However, today, the world is quite different where immigration is something that is more accessible even though it is more regulated in some countries than others. Today, a lot of immigration stems from global employment opportunities, study abroad opportunities or political crises. Immigrants still do hold the hope of starting a new chapter of their live and leaving their home country behind; however, the world is far closer than it used to be and more people are marrying between cultures and taking opportunities to live and work in many parts of the globe.

What Are the Underlying Reasons for Immigration to and from Asia?

Due to the proximity between Southeast Asia and Australia, it is no surprise that there have been many immigrants coming from Southeast Asia to Australia. The largest migrant community in Australia is from China who started to immigrate to Australia for employment opportunities in the 18th Century. Another migrant community that also came to Australia for opportunity are from India. These migrants have a colonial connection to Australia, which made jobs available as skilled workers, particularly when India began to excel in technology that Australia needed programmers in their employment market. The high level of English that migrants have from India make them an ideal candidate to be able to live and work in Australia with ease. Another strong reason that immigrants came to Australia from Asia were due to conflicts. For example, Australia has a sizeable Vietnamese and Cambodian population that occurred as a result of the Vietnam War and the Khmer Rouge. The refugees from these crises caused immigrants to turn to Australia looking for basic civil liberties and the opportunity to start over.

Final Remarks on the Subject

Australia has one of the most fascinating cultural diversities in the world. Since Australia began as a British colony, it always had diversity between the Aboriginal tribes and British settlers. When the Chinse, Indians, Vietnamese, and Cambodians began to immigrate, Australia began to have a large cultural diversity. In the coming years, it will be interesting to see if the Australian government will have such an inclusive immigration culture as they have had in previous years. The outcome will likely depend on the debate that is occurring now related to the aging population and whether it is better to include more immigrants to contribute to economic expansion in the workforce or to have more exclusive immigration policies.